Algiers community garden gets help from Walter Cohen High School students

When Brittany Polk’s mother, Pat Baxter, noticed a neglected vacant lot near their Algiers home, she knew something had to be done.

Bringing Algiers Riverview Community Garden back to life was a learning experience for Walter L. Cohen High School students.

“My mom called the city every single day for them to do something about it, because it wasn’t safe and there were kids always playing outside,” Polk said. “They never wanted to do anything. So, my mom was like, ‘Fine. I’ll take care of it.’ ”

So, Polk, her mother, her other siblings and other members of the community made efforts to keep the area under control. They cleared out trash, cut grass and eventually petitioned the city of New Orleans to allow them to put a community garden in the space.

With the help of organizations such as New Orleans Parks and Parkways, the Algiers Riverview Community Garden was formed. Baxter, the garden’s director, used the garden as a way to give back, by giving away the food grown in the garden to residents in the neighborhood.

However, everything changed after Hurricane Katrina, when the garden was destroyed.

“Katrina took everything,” said Baxter. “So, I’m trying to get it back going.”

That’s when Polk, who works as a City Year AmeriCorps member at Walter L. Cohen High School, decided to bring some of the students along to help out.

“It feels good to give back to the community,” said Germaine Scott, ninth-grader at Walter L. Cohen. “It feels like I’ve done something that also benefits me.”

Baxter said the students were able learn where their food actually comes from.

“A lot of kids usually go to the market and buy their vegetables and they don’t know how it really starts,” she said. “Some of them are amazed at the size and different shapes of the seeds. As teenagers, a lot of them are new to this.”

Polk said she hopes to use the lessons her mother taught her about community service and become an example for the students.

“The students and I are close in age and very similar in economic background. I’m also a product of the Orleans Parish school system,” Polk said. “They need to see that I come from this place, I’m here but I still care and I want to give back.”